


On Visions of the Future and our Feeling In Between

by TenshiEren14



Series: Our Visions can change the World [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, BAMF Generation of Miracles, BAMF Kuroko Tetsuya, BAMF Seirin, But also lots of fluff!, Don't trust vanilla milkshakes, Energy manipulating! Midorima, Everyone has superpowers, Everyone is BAMF, F/M, Families of Choice, Finally some Midorima!, Happy Reading~~, I think there'll be more fluff than angst tbh, Invisible! Kuroko, Kuroko's Grandmother is awesome, Kuroko's bringing the GoM back, M/M, More tags to be added~, Phantom problems, Sneaky Takao, Stormy childhoods, Supernatural AU!, There's far too much angst in this fandom, kind of, neglectful parent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-05-07 19:15:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5467940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenshiEren14/pseuds/TenshiEren14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Akashi is raised by Mibuchi, Nebuya and Hayama, Midorima lives in a forest, Aomine and Momoi are streetrats, Kise is shady, Murasakibara is a baker's kid and Kuroko brings them together.</p><p>(Alternatively, if an invisible boy offers you a milkshake, run. Far FAR away)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. On Tetsuya

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had this idea rolling around in my mind for a bit and after visiting the AkaKuro Fanpage on Tumblr and listening to the Undertale OST I decided to start writing it out. Updates won’t be very regular, especially since I’m still planning a lot of things out and I’m uploading this because I hate being inactive for extended periods of time. 
> 
> So enjoy this little AU, I don’t think it’ll be very cute, but I’m very passionate about Phantom Menace Kuroko.

When Tetsuya Kuroko was born, he was a smaller than average child with an incredibly pale complexion that baffled his tan father and tastefully dark mother. His hair was a shock of messy teal and his eyes were a startlingly cold pale blue that glowed even in the nauseatingly bright light of the delivery room. He was quiet and still, so much so that the nurses were certain that he had been born still, however, upon conducting the required checkup, it was found that he was perfectly fine. The child however, was born with weak lungs and so, the nurses put him into an incubator to ensure that he was breathing well on his own.

All was well, until the doctor was making his rounds and discovered that the incubator labelled ’Kuroko Tetsuya’ was empty. Needless to say, there was a huge panic as the staff attempted to locate the missing infant and after three hours of being unable to successfully locate the child, the police were called in. The nurses explained that the boy was very distinctive, with bright, near florescent blue hair and porcelain skin and even with that impossible description the police were unable to find the child, no matter how hard they searched.

It would be three more hours before a passing nurse would hear a small, yet powerful wail coming from the nursery.

Tetsuya had never moved. He had been there the entire time.

* * *

 

When Tetsuya was three, his parents were frustrated with his random disappearing acts since no matter what they did; it was difficult keeping track of a toddler who could unconsciously become invisible. In the end Tetsuya’s mother sewed jingle bells into the sleeves of all of his shirts and, since the boy was rather adamant about letting his hair grow, she made him wear a kanzashi that was decorated with cat bells and a charm for good luck.

His parents were unsurprised that their son was a polite and traditional one, after all, Tetsuya’s father ran a tea house and his mother was a saleswoman who was quickly climbing the business ladder. Tetsuya’s father instilled in him at a young age the importance of health, both mental and physical and he stressed that because of Tetsuya’s weak lungs, he should become even stronger.

Tetsuya’s father enrolled him in mixed martial arts before he could even form proper sentences and Tetsuya, who was eager to make his father proud, excelled at it.

His shisho was a commanding man who took note of Tetsuya’s special needs (it’s hard to forget when a four year old boy with blazing hair sneaks up on a master of the arts) and he usually had Tetsuya sit out group practices since the boy disappeared in the fray of eager elementary and middle schoolers too easily. For Tetsuya, the shisho had him do special stamina building exercises and work on his presence and composure.

At the age of five, Tetsuya began hearing the voices.

It was a constant static in the back of his mind that had been building until, one day, while he was swinging in the park under his father’s supervision, the bells he had grown accustomed to tinkling merrily in his ears, he heard an unfamiliar voice whisper, _‘I wonder what I should do for dinner tonight?’_

He was startled so badly at the sound that he jumped and fell off of the swing, scraping his knee and breaking the skin above his eye, much to the horror of his father. His dad fussed over him and softly murmured question in his ears to ensure that he was fine, but Tetsuya wasn’t paying attention to that, all he could hear was the panicky babble that was racing through his father’s mind. It was painful, all the white noise, so much so that he had to tell his dad that he was more than fine and that he had had worse from his MMA lessons.

As he grew, things escalated. He could hear the inane chatter of everyone, of the large Tokyo crowds and of the pretty ladies that worked in his father’s shop. It bothered him so much that he developed something akin to social anxiety, refusing to go outside unless he wore headphones or was going straight to a quiet place. He could hear the passing thoughts of his mother, who often had a man named Yoshino on her mind and it didn’t help that by the time he was seven, the jingle bells didn’t work anymore. He found that things around him started disappearing with him and his mother was slowly getting more frustrated with his worsening condition.

Tetsuya’s father began missing him, and Tetsuya, unable to do anything about it, decided to learn how to fend for himself. He’d read and learn and memorize and when he woke up one morning to find that he could hear his mother’s voice in his head, even though she was in a room upstairs he crawled through the window and ran as far away from his house as possible.

He ran through the streets barefooted, mind overwhelmed with the constant noise that flew around his head until he came to a small park and collapsed in a pile of tired flesh and heavy breaths. It was only when he smelt burned copper that he realized his nose was gushing blood from the noise and that’s when he began to understand what this would mean.

He curled himself into a small ball of teal and white and cried. Cried because he could still hear the morning commute in his head, even though they were nearly five meters away, cried because he didn’t understand even after all that reading why he was stuck with this curse, cried because the noise wouldn’t stop, even though he tried so hard to tune it out.

He sat there until the blood had dried under his nose and the static had dulled to a dull hum in the back of his mind. A small pigeon had landed on his knee while he was sitting and the bird had hopped about him cautiously for a few minutes. Tetsuya had stiffened as the bird busily made its way around him before he heard a scratchy cooing vibrating in his head. The bird mumbled something along the lines of ‘what a strange figure’ making the boy smile at the bird’s musing and making the bird startle at the prospect of a moving figure. The bird cooed again and Tetsuya heard the irritated remarks about the ‘stupidly wasteful humans’ before he broke down and told the bird that he was in fact, human and that he  agreed that his kind were indeed wasteful.

The bird was so shocked at the response that its feathers ruffled causing it to puff out and make Tetsuya laugh even louder. In the end, the bird decided to roost in Tetsuya’s messy hair as compensation for tricking her (“I did no such thing, you decided I was a statue on your own, Tori-san”) and the boy, after feeling the noon sun on his skin decided that it was time to go home.

It was only when he arrived on his street that he realized that he had been gone for over six hours and his parents knew nothing of his whereabouts. He ran back to his home and slammed the door open, already shouting reassurances that he was alright when he took in the fact that his parents were completely relaxed. He walked into the house and stubbornly ignored the rather rude comments that his new bird friend was making on their choice in décor, walking directly to his father who was drinking tea and pulling on his shirt to get his attention, since he knew from experience that calling wouldn’t get anything done.

His father ignored him, apparently not even feeling the shirt tugging and when he climbed onto the kitchen table (“Is this normal in human households, Tetsun?” “…Yes”) his mother didn’t even flinch when his sandy feet nearly fell into her eggs.

Tetsuya even actively read them to see if they were punishing him for leaving without their permission but their minds were other places, his mother thinking about what she was doing in the evening and his father reading silently. The teal haired boy climbed down the table and picked up the now silent bird and went to his room silently.

They had completely forgotten about him.

 


	2. On New Resolutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tetsuya makes up his mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So…hey! I was listening to Aria di Mezzo Carattere from FFVI and I was inspired to start writing the rest of my chapters. Hopefully I can get a lot done since I’m on a bit of a kick right now~
> 
> *The Line Breaks are giving trouble, so I'll edit them in when they start working, sorry for the inconvenience  
> ( means Line Break)

 

Tetsuya forewent traditional education as his condition made it impossible for him to go through the school’s system effectively and so he was taught by his father until he was ten. At this age, however, his weak lungs, already rather stilted naturally, had decided that it had had quite enough of the Tokyo smog and Tetsuya had a rather vicious asthma attack.

It was sudden and brutal, affecting him after he had taken a bad hit to his chest while sparing with some upperclassmen during his lesson. His breathing, suddenly shallow, forced him to take a couple steps backward before he realized that his usually impeccable vision was blurring at the edges. By the time the shisho had gotten to the little boy, he was already passed out and barely breathing.

He spent nearly an entire month in the hospital after that.

The doctors hooked him to a respirator for the latter half of two weeks and even when he was certain that he could move about and _breathe_ on his own, they still insisted that he carry an oxygen bag and tube with him to keep the strain off of his lungs.

Needless to say, Tetsuya despised it entirely. He hated being treated like a glass doll that could break at any moment and with his body strung up to so many different devices, his lack of presence didn’t matter. Tetsuya enjoyed outside the most. He loved sitting in the sun with a bird roosting in his hair and a good mystery novel in his hands and he loved observing the people around him.

As the months had dragged on, Tetsuya found that he could control his invisibility and while said control was lackluster at best, he could still make things within a half meter radius disappear at will. He had managed to tone the mind reading (for after countless sessions reading and researching, there was nothing else to call it) down to a constant murmur in the back of his head, like babbling brook on a quiet midsummer day. It was still unpleasant, the dull buzz sometimes demanded attention, but it was a vast improvement. He discovered that locking eyes or even looking too closely at someone would make their thoughts stand out much more prominently and so he had begun mastering ‘speed-reading people’, the act of allowing his eyes to run over an individual for less than a second and marking down everything that he could observe about said person, from their occupation, to their salary, to their routine to, in some cases, their sexuality and preferences. Tetsuya had become rather good at it, if he said so himself.

So good at it, in fact, that when the third week rolled around in the dreary, white-washed hospital and his doctor walked in all stiff and subtly anxious, Kuroko took one glance at him before sighing and resuming his staring out into the cityscape, already having a rather accurate idea of what the doctor would have to say.

“Kuroko-kun, it would seem that your lungs are unable to handle the excess smog in the city.”

As was expected, nothing but bad news. Now he’d be forced to carry around a bag of oxygen and-

“So we talked it over with your parents and they’ve decided to send you to live with your grandmother in Shuutoku.”

-that wasn’t as expected.

His parents got to arguing about him moving him out as soon as he was out of the hospital, his mother incessant that he leave before the new school term started and his father demanding that he finish his last set of lessons before he go. In the end, Tetsuya deigned to complete his studies and halfway through his tenth year he relocated to his elderly grandmother’s in the countryside district of Shuutoku.

* * *

 

Tetsuya’s first thoughts of the district were that of the timeless beauty the land seemed to possess.

He had not too long gotten off the train with his father when three small ground doves perched themselves upon his head and shoulders and began busily gossiping about themselves. Tetsuya smiled in amusement at their sharp words but quickly realized that the people in Shuutoku were polite and rather stiff, their bodies not as busy or swift as the ones he had observed in Tokyo. His father had told him a bit about Shuutoku being a traditional place that was slowly being modernized and that his grandmother would most likely have him wear kimono and furisode.

Midsummers were pleasantly warm in Shuutoku and many small animals were roaming and scavenging for food. A great deal of these animals, mostly raccoons, a couple small, urbanized foxes and quite a few birds were inexplicably drawn to Tetsuya’s presence and by the time they had finished their walk from the station to Tetsuya’s grandmother’s house, the small phantom had amassed a tiny battalion of wild animals all perfectly behaved and polite.

Neither adult noticed the eerie teal glow surrounding Tetsuya’s eyes when the boy asked the animals to leave.

* * *

 

Kuroko Kagura was a, quite frankly, terrifying woman.

Even at her age, she was anything but withered or kindly, valuing manners and morals above all else. Her eyes were a deep blue and shaper than a hawk’s as she never missed Tetsuya, not when the boy was in his natural state anyway. Her light grey hair was usually swept into a tight bun clipped with a very ornate blue and purple crested pin and she was nearly never seen in anything less formal than a full triple layered kimono completed with geta and her paper fans.

She spoke in proverbs more often than not and she taught Tetsuya even more about his skills. Kagura was a wise woman and one morning when she had woken up to find that half of her home was missing, she immediately summoned Tetsuya to come out, only to be shocked at the moving void of emptiness heading her way. Needless to say, as a woman who valued control over self over all she immediately began breaking Tetsuya out of that behavior.

‘If one cannot handle the darkness, then they will burn in the light’, was one of her favorite sayings and Tetsuya learned it well, embroidered it onto his heart as his strict grandmother drilled into his head the importance of knowing yourself before your enemies, manipulating the environment and composure and level-headedness. Kagura was well aware of the fact that Tetsuya was unable to function naturally in social settings, his sheltered upbringing and physical conditioning didn’t allow him such frivolities as school or even friends due to the fact that the neighbourhood children missed him every single time and so she took matters into her own well-manicured hands.

* * *

 

During the Harvest Festival in autumn, Shuutoku came to life in a vibrant explosion of oranges, reds and ambers, the colours of the falling leaves illuminating every street and pathway in the small village. The community gathered at the main Great Shrine in the middle of the town and paid their respects to the gods of harvest for another fruitful year and the children often took part in the Wolf Games, wherein one chosen child would be the great Wolf of the North and the others would have to capture them. Should the children fail to capture the Northern Wolf, it is said that the upcoming winter would be long and bitter, prompting a late spring and throwing the year off of its axis.

Tetsuya was chosen.

Kagura watched on in amusement as the powdery-haired boy startled and raised his head towards the priestess. He glanced back at his grandmother, eyes gleaming with hope and fear all at once and she nodded allowing the boy, who was decked in a deep blue haori stenciled with snowflakes and matching hakama, to go into the vast golden fields and play with the other children. She was certain that Tetsuya was at a level of control where he could be seen by untrained eyes and she knew that this was the only way to test whether or not Tetsuya would ever be able to live normally.    

Her efforts crumbled completely.

Even decked in the popping colours with large wolf’s ears and a silver faux tail attached to him, the children couldn’t find him. The adults looking on were lucky to even get a glimpse of the silver moving in between the wheat and they chattered amongst themselves, praising the boy for his evasive skills and his grace but Kagura looked on in mounting horror as she realized not even ten minutes in, Tetsuya gave up evading his captors and settled down in the middle of the field, sitting seiza and stroking the small magpie that had been perched on his shoulder since the day before.

She watched as child after child passed him by, not stopping for a second as they laughed for all their efforts while Tetsuya was already forgotten and the game degenerated into a large glorified battle of tag. Kagura had no choice but to look as Tetsuya’s hopes were crushed as one particularly large child bumped into him and fell before getting up and continuing his running as though nothing had happened.

She watched as the light left his eyes.

Eventually, as the hours passed, the chasing children gave up the pursuit and stomped unhappily home, complaining to their parents that they gave them a ghost to catch and leaving Tetsuya in the field. Kagura approached him cautiously, the guilt for his humiliation weighing on his prideful shoulders as she held onto a cup of vanilla tea to warm him up. She flinched as she heard his soft sobs echoing throughout the fields and sighed as she sat down in front of him as he softly stroked his slumbering bird’s dark feathers.

“I’m sorry, Tetsuya.” Her voice was soft, yet firm as she raised her hand to pet the boy’s silky hair. “I thought you were ready. I was mistaken.”

Tetsuya sniffed delicately, her etiquette lessons making him unconsciously act demur as he kept his gaze on the bumpy ground. “You’re forgiven grandmother.” He swallowed his tears, the salt on his tongue making him squirm, “I don’t believe you did this out of spite for me, so it’s fine.”

Kagura stopped and sighed. The fields were silent and she knew that Tetsuya wouldn’t meet her gaze unless she assured him that he would still have silence. She carefully took the fake ears off of his hair and patted it down until it lay flat and placed the tea next to him, allowing him to have a couple minutes to compose himself completely.

The evening was cold, the autumn air already biting into Kagura’s shoulders as she waited for the telltale sip that would signal Tetsuya accepting her peace offering. The silence continued on and though she refused to show it, her nerves were building. What if she blew it like that silly daughter-in-law of hers did and Tetsuya never forgave her? She wouldn’t admit it but she enjoyed passing down her way of life to someone as eager to learn as her grandson.

A small hum brought her out of her musing as she watched Tetsuya nurse the drink, a small vindictive smirk curling at his neutral lips.

She sighed and flicked his head good-naturedly prompting him to pout a bit. “You’ve learned well, Tetsuya.”

He looked at her and sighed, his tears long dried with the administration of the vanilla essence, “Grandmother,” he began, feeling his way through the words bubbling in his throat, “I burnt spectacularly in the light today.”

Kagura paused. She turned her piercing blue eyes onto her grandson, the moon illuminating them with an otherworldly light, “What have you decided then?”

Tetsuya placed his cup into the weeds next to him and squared his shoulders before meeting his grandmother’s eyes full on, ignoring the surprising clarity of the woman’s mind and allowing the full weight of his ten year old stare to fall on his elder.

“I shall flourish in the darkness.”

    

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There'll be one more chapter of beginning years and then we get to the good stuff~! 
> 
> I'm excited.


	3. On First Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tetsuya saves a very interesting Hawk and plans are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, number one Happy New Year to all whom it may concern! I hope that this year brings about new changes and happiness for all of you. Next, this was probably the most irritating chapter to plan out because Goddammit Midorin, I’m trying!
> 
> Now please enjoy this chapter~

**_Around three years later…_ **

* * *

 

Tetsuya figured that he quite enjoyed the springs of Shuutoku. His grandmother grew a cherry tree in the backyard and though it was a pain to clean up after, he enjoyed practicing his kata underneath it. Spring was chilly, yes, but it wasn’t overbearingly so like the harsher winters were and Tetsuya, though the cold didn’t really bother him he found, enjoyed how crisp the air was against his frustratingly pale skin.

He sat on a frostbitten bench in front of a small take out restaurant nursing a vanilla milkshake and watched as the people went about their daily lives, making notes in his head about what’s been going on at the gossip mill in recent times. From the corner of his eyes he spotted a small, mottled grey head poking through the well-trimmed bushes and resisted sighing, it would seem that people-watching was over for the morning.

He hummed and got up, finishing the rest of his drink and made his way to the small fox that had taken to following him around town in the past months. With graceful movements he plucked the small pup from the sidewalk and tucked him into his carrier bag, ignoring the irritated yelp coming from the passenger.

_‘Your grandmother says that she’s going off to Rakuzan for a couple days.’_

Tetsuya’s face didn’t even twitch as he internalized the news. In the past two years, she had retreated to Rakuzan every four months and she herself told him not to worry about any of it. Tetsuya wasn’t so curious as to read her mind and find out what was actually going on, but on the odd occasion, he heard her thinking of a ‘Hyuuga-kun’. What exactly he meant in the grand scheme of things only piqued the smallest amount of interest in Tetsuya’s complicated mind. “Ah, I see. Is she leaving soon?”

The small fox scratched behind his large ear and huffed, _‘You’re expecting me to know that from eavesdropping?’_

“Yes.”

His maw curled, showing off a few of his developing fangs, _‘At least sound grateful that I told you that much.’_

Tetsuya didn’t miss a beat, “Then please be better at your hobbies.”

_‘So mean.’_

 They walked along the streets, dancing on the edge of the sidewalk to avoid bumping into anyone since Tetsuya had long since learned to avoid crowded areas if he wanted to keep his mind empty. The shadow thought about how quickly time had flied while he was with his grandmother. He had learned quite a few things in his escapades with her, including, but not limited to, how to forge identities, lie like his life depended on it and how to beat professionals at poker. When he began questioning the content she had chosen to teach him, she simply shot him down with the reasoning that shadows operated completely in the darkness. Legal business wasn’t their business. Similarly, when he asked how, exactly, she learned all of these things herself, she’d giggle for the rest of day while mumbling about brighter days.

A sudden influx of enraged static rose in the back of his mind, forcing him to turn his attention to a near empty street basketball court and re-direct his focus to calming the aggravated buzzing building his head. It took him less than a second to internalize the conflict and act.

A teen with straight hair was currently being pushed around by three or four larger males in a corner. There was a bag of discarded groceries spilled on the ground a little way off from them and Tetsuya noted, with absent amusement, that one of the objects on the ground was a case of canned red bean soup. The males seemed to be attempting to rob the other guy and Tetsuya decided that he’d rather not be just a bystander.

He dropped his carrier bag gently, as to not jostle the passenger and swiftly strode across the court, eyes blazing a soft blue as he appeared next to the band of common thugs. He catalogued their faces for future reference noting that the leader was a dirty blond with a small scar beneath his right eye and the second in command was tall (so incredibly tall that there was a brief twinge of jealousy stirring in Tetsuya’s mind) with grey hair tied in a small ponytail. The other two were rather boring, so Tetsuya focused on the victim and sighed. The teen was tall enough with inky black hair that he was keeping out of his face with yellow hairclips but he was nursing a black eye and a busted lip. Tetsuya noted that he probably had a niece or little sister, seeing as he wore relatively new clips and they were very cute, what with a little Hiyori-chan stenciled to it. 

The leader decided that they had had enough of simply standing around and pulled back to punch the guy and Tetsuya moved, swiftly hitting him in his neck with enough force to make him choke and stumble. The other members of the group stopped and looked around in confusion and Tetsuya ruthlessly capitalized on the free shots. He struck the second in command in the back of his knee, making him kneel before striking him in the neck and inducing incoherency. The other two were angered and rounded on the already beaten teen to get revenge but Tetsuya simply was not having it, tripping the one of the left and sweeping the one on the right’s feet out from underneath him. Then he grabbed a hold of the unnamed teen’s hand and pulled, ushering him out of the court, stopping only to pick up the carrier bag, and to a safe distance away.

* * *

 

They ran all the way to a small park less than a block from Tetsuya’s home when the mystery teen decided that he’d had enough and stopped, pulling his arm from Tetsuya’s tight grip and breathing heavily. Tetsuya himself wasn’t too bothered by the run, but he did want a bit of a break from the slight adrenaline rush and allowed himself to breath a bit heavier than usual to get as much air into his lungs as possible.

“W-who, exactly are you?”

Tetsuya turned and found that the teen’s startling grey eyes were piercing into his skull. He met his eyes for a second and nearly flinched at the influx of thoughts that weren’t his own invading his mind before breathing deeply and calming the flow down to a small trickle. The name ‘Shin-chan’ was thrown around a lot in the teen’s mind and Tetsuya found it strange that someone was worrying about someone else while their lip was turning a rather worrying shade of mottled purple but he quickly shut the lid on _Kazunari Takao’s_ thoughts and turned his attention to the person he just rescued.

“Right, that was rude of me, I apologise,” he bowed slightly and met his eyes once more, “I’m Kuroko. Nice to meet you.”

He looked a bit sheepish, uncomfortable from the bow Tetsuya noted, and held his hands up in a placating motion, “No, I didn’t mean it like that. Thanks for that back there by the way! I didn’t even see you move!”

“It was nothing.”

Takao started walking, tentatively poking at his swollen eye and cringing, “Man, Shin-chan is gonna kill me. Oh, I’m Takao Kazunari by the way”

Tetsuya raised an eyebrow at the mention of the name and walked behind him, “I can help with the injuries if you wish. My home isn’t too far from here.”

Takao hummed and nodded, “Yeah, I don’t think I want to go home like this. Thanks.”

They walked in silence for a bit before Tetsuya’s curiosity got the better of him, “Why were they after you, if you don’t mind me asking Takao-san?”

He hummed and scratched the back of his head, “Well, it wasn’t all their fault. Maybe I antagonized them a bit.”

Tetsuya stopped, “So, Takao-san is an idiot?”

“Hey! I never said that!”

Tetsuya picked up his pace, curiosity growing, “Why would Takao-san then anger a group of people out-numbering him four to one knowing that he’d get beaten?”

He had the decency to look a bit embarrassed as his folly was pointed out to him so plainly but he smiled and patted Tetsuya’s hair gently, “Maybe when you’re older you’ll understand.”

Tetsuya furrowed his eyebrow and moved Takao’s hand from his head, “Please don’t pet me.”

Takao chuckled before groaning, holding his mouth, “Ahh, this hurts.”

He looked up and nodded, “Takao-san, this is my house.”

It wasn’t anything ridiculously huge or glamorous, but it was fairly large, two-storeys and a large backyard. The fact that it was rather traditional was probably the only thing strange about it, but Takao seemed awed by it either way. Tetsuya led him inside and emptied the carrier bag, letting the fox out, which also shocked Takao (‘You keep a fox as a pet?!’ “It never left.”) before leading him to the main room and going to get the medical kit.

Tetsuya patched him up quickly, washing his wounds and putting the salve on them before he went into the fridge and brought out an ice-pack and placed it on Takao’s now very swollen face. Tetsuya then brought out two slices of vanilla cake and passed one to Takao before sitting across from him and nibbling on his slice.

They sat in a strange sort of silence before Takao cursed quite vehemently and whipped his phone out of his pocket startling Tetsuya quite badly. “Is everything okay, Takao-san?”

The teen quickly shushed the pale boy and directed all of his attention to the rather deep, smooth voice that filtered through the phone after the first ring, “Hey, Shin-chan,” he began nervously, “Ho-… right, I know but,” he paused, a rather surprising look of fond exasperation flitting past his face before he responded, “no… I got everything, don’t worry,” he was cut off once more and he frowned, “I-… will you let me speak?...I kinda got robbed.” There was a loud exclamation of surprise, anger and worry all rolled into one and Tetsuya was suddenly just a bit more wary of this ‘Shin-chan’ character, “No, NO! I’m fine,” he placated, “I’m at the guy that saved me’s hou-“ suddenly Takao’s face morphed into something rather cold as he glared at the still air in front of him, “… does that really matter? No-… fine.”

Tetsuya was very confused, ‘Shin-chan’ was a boy? He wasn’t Takao’s brother because of the way that Takao thought of him and from the sound of this rather one-sided argument ‘Shin-chan’ was rather pushy. Perhaps they were close friends? Then Tetsuya noticed that Takao had placed his hand over the speaker of the phone and was looking at him pointedly. “Can I help you?”

“When’s your birthday?”

Tetsuya blinked. He couldn’t help it. Who, exactly, did he decide to rescue today? “January 31st.”

Takao nodded and turned his attention back to the phone, “He’s an Aquarius. No, I’m not leaving…Bad luck for you maybe but-… you aren’t listening are you?”

Tetsuya sighed and pulled his hair from its kanzashi, intending to smoothen it out from Takao’s playing but the aforementioned teen groaned and threw a glare at the phone, “I’m inviting him over Shin-… Play nice. Now you’re just being mean on purpose… Goodbye Shin-chan. Yeah, see you when I get there.”  

Tetsuya quickly braided his hair and pinned it back, placing his clip at the base of his head and turned to face Takao who was now looking at the slice of vanilla cake like it would bite him. “Is something the matter, Takao-san?”

“Nah,” he mumbled distractedly. He paused and looked around briefly, “Do you live here alone?”

Tetsuya stopped and looked over the teen in front of him, weighing the options of telling the truth versus lying and sighed, it would seem that he was going to make an acquaintance today. “No. My grandmother should be back soon.”

Takao nodded and allowed a small comfortable smile to pull at his lips, wincing slightly as his lips tugged at the swollen muscles of his face, “Oh, that’s good. I live with my little sister myself.”

Tetsuya didn’t miss the brief lance of sadness that passed through Takao’s mind at the mention of his little sister and he sighed, he had been doing that quite a lot hadn’t he, “Can you please get to the point of all of this, Takao-san?”

The teen started at the wording and chuckled softly, groaning in between breaths as the joyous sounds irritated his facial muscles even more, “You’re really straight-forward aren’t you?”

Tetsuya nodded slightly, “I’ve been told that it’s a gift.”

Takao’s smile widened and Tetsuya was just a bit worried for his sanity, “Yeah. He’s gonna hate you.”

“Excuse me?”

Takao shook his head, “Oh nothing. Do you have a piece of paper?”

Tetsuya knew where this was going. He’d been filtering his guest’s thoughts for the duration of his stay and he tried his best to ignore the ache that was pressing into his skull as he got up and ripped a sheet of paper from the magnetic pad that was stuck to the fridge. He offered them to the teen and he quickly pulled a black pen from his pocket and began scribbling on it. Tetsuya counted to ten in his head and inhaled deeply, trying to abate the pain of the now frenzied thoughts and by the time he’d reached eight, Takao was clicking his tongue and grinning contentedly at him.

He pushed the paper into his hand and Tetsuya noted that it was a rather poorly drawn map to what seemed to be a mansion made of straw that lied in a forest of… were those candy canes?

“Meet me there next Saturday. I owe you now and I hate owing debts.”

Tetsuya’s face stayed carefully blank but he raised one unimpressed eyebrow, “With all due respect, Takao-san, I cannot follow this map. My pet fox could probably draw something less elementary.”

Takao glared at him before huffing and pulling the paper from his hand, mumbling under his breath about ‘ungrateful brats’. When Tetsuya received the paper once more, there was a hastily scribbled note describing the landmarks and the final destination. “There,” Takao grumbled, “That should be better.”

Tetsuya nodded and folded the piece of paper before placing it on the small side table next to him. Takao was poking at his now numbed face and groaning pitifully and Tetsuya huffed in resigned amusement, “Takao-san is more that welcome to stay until he is so inclined.”

* * *

 

In the end, Takao stayed until well into the evening. Kagura had come home after about an hour and nearly punched Takao in his already abused face when he spoke out of turn and startled her. She had felt rather bad for nearly decking the already injured teen and prepared some manju for them to eat.

Tetsuya sat back and watched as his grandmother played the role of the gracious hostess up until Takao got a hold of the time and rushed out the door, taking some of the manju with him in a small bag and reminding Tetsuya about their date (Tetsuya noted that not once did Takao take his eyes off of him while he was conversing with his grandmother, almost as though he was affirming something). When the door closed, Kagura huffed and sipped her tea tiredly, “You make the most interesting of friends, Tetsuya.”

Tetsuya opted to sit on the zabuton and pet his fox gently, “He is the first one since Shigehiro-kun, grandmother.”

She nodded slightly, “Yes, but we both know what happened to Ogiwara-san, don’t we?”  

Tetsuya’s hand paused in its ministration and his pet threw him a rather vicious look, “Are you implying that he may be another, grandmother?”

She looked at Tetsuya pointedly, her eyes conveying her thoughts much clearer than her words ever could. Tetsuya sighed and continued stroking the fox, ignoring the uncomfortable stare that Kagura was pinning on him. “Will you take him up on his offer?”

Tetsuya answered without missing a beat, “Will you be leaving to Rakuzan?”

Kagura snorted and rested her teacup down daintily, “Of course. I must and you are aware of this,” she paused and placed a manicured finger on her chin, pondering for a second, “And you need to practice your interrogation skills. You’re slipping.”

Just like that, the mounting tension melted down the drain and Tetsuya relaxed his shoulders, “Of course, grandmother.”

Kagura’s eyes softened as she looked at the stoically calm disposition of her grandson and cursed under her breath. She knew that Tetsuya was taking this invitation very seriously, it could mean a second chance at a close friendship and she had no right to take that away from him, however, she would be damned if she allowed Tetsuya to stew in his thoughts alone.

“Tomorrow, we shall go shopping.”

Tetsuya looked up in confusion, “Tomorrow is my language lesson.”

“I wasn’t asking.”

Calm teal met deep blue and Tetsuya sighed, a small smile crossing his lips as he glanced at the folded square of paper sitting innocently on the table.

“Yes, grandmother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fancy Italian music intensifies~~
> 
> Man, this chapter killed me because I’m not good at subtle things at all. Sadly, Kuroko and Kagura are all about subtlety and Takao is, like, a master of making things go his own way, so that’s gross. In other news, I’m so sick when I cough my head spasms and my chest expands till it burns but I got this chapter finished so success!  
> Also, you all won’t be finding out what happened between Shige and Kuroko for a while so tough thumb tacks. You are welcome to guess about it though~
> 
> I’m gonna go lie down forever now. Bye.


	4. On the Week Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which terrorism begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo everyone! Guess who isn’t dead somewhere in a ditch in Panama? This guy~! I finally got off my booty and decided to finish this chap with a little help from a little m8 and some philosophical discussions about the validity of the word ‘fanfiction’. I’d give you guys a long list of perfectly valid reasons for me being about three damn weeks late with this update, but I know that you don’t wanna hear my crappy excuses. 
> 
> In other news, tomorrow is Tetsu’s birthday, so from me and my late self, Happy Birthday Tetsun! In celebration of this wonderful event, I’m going to do……….. absolutely nothing. This update is the birthday present, I guess. (sorrynotsorryIsuck)

On Monday a rather devastating news story swept through the countryside like hungry wildfire, sparking paranoia in the hearts of many of the traditionalists that resided there. In Touou, there had been a rather peculiar robbery consisting of two men and a box of matches in the state branch. It was a hostage situation and the police were unable to diffuse the situation until the first hostage was killed by carbon combustion.

Carbon combustion.

According to Kagura, it was the first time in nearly three years that a powered human had committed a crime of that caliber using their abilities. She made Tetsuya study the entire four hour ordeal and had him comment on the most effective ways to neutralize persons with that kind of power as well as which ways the police screwed the retrieval mission.

Tetsuya spent Monday night into Tuesday morning going over the mechanics of combustion and bomb making and at nearly eight in the morning he figured out the best way to stop the combustion process.

He was understandably exhausted after all of the research and testing that his grandmother had put him through and had retired to his room to sleep before running through his daily kata when another breaking news report showed a flash flood in Kirisaki Daiichi, a small fishing village to the extreme south of Touou. Kagura brewed him a cup of vanilla coffee and they both sat down to weather the new story.

On Wednesday, while he was exercising with his fox, the subdued buzz that was flowing through his ears suddenly spiked in apprehension. Instinctively, he cloaked both himself and his companion and evened out his breathing, trying his best to suppress the overwhelming urge to read whoever was in his range.

“D’ya think there’re any metas in Shuutoku?” It was a man’s voice. Deep and rasp with the taste of cigarettes.

“Nah, this place’s too small for folks like them. They’re too destructive.” A woman, she sounded hateful, angry and suddenly, Tetsuya knew who had caused the disturbance in his mind.

The man huffed, “I heard that they’re expensive to raise too.”

The woman snorted, “Why’d you wanna raise animals like them? They need to be put down, the lot of ‘em”

The conversation continued in that manner until they were out of Tetsuya’s range and the blue eyed boy was suddenly just a bit afraid of the ramifications of the sudden attacks on Touou.

Thursday was quiet, thankfully. Kagura was reluctant to leave Tetsuya alone, especially in the lieu of the attacks and Tetsuya was very stubbornly attempting to keep her away from Rakuzan, which was scarily close to Touou, but in the end, she packed her bags and left in the evening, leaving Tetsuya with three thick tomes on the human biology and poison studies to read for by the time she got back in two weeks.   

Tetsuya kept a hand radio at his side throughout the night as he wrote down theories on the current situation and studied the first book that was given to him, ‘ _The Ocular Illusion_ by Tateyama A-chan. He often found his thoughts straying towards his grandmother and whether or not she’d have made the trip safely. Shuutoku was about a day and a half from Rakuzan by plane. Even more if she decided to take the train to Touou to study the hostage sites or the water in Kirisaki Daiichi and Tetsuya didn’t think he’d be able to handle it if he received news that on one of her walkabouts, she got abducted or something.

Then again, this could all be overreaction on a nationwide scale.

Crime rates in Touou had always been high and a vast majority of powered people inhabited both Touou and its neighboring state of Kamata. Crimes were committed all the time with or without the assistance of inherited power and this could just be two coincidences that were blown out of proportion by the news and their creepy proximity to each other.

And then on Friday, three people spontaneously combusted in Tokyo, Touou and Kamata respectively in one hour intervals from each other.

Tetsuya nearly fainted when he heard the news, his mind racing with what ifs and theories. This was no mere coincidence. Someone was actively attempting to draw unwanted attention to metahumanity and they were doing a wonderful job of it.

His grandmother had always told him to be prepared for attacks, whether they were subtle acts of terrorism or full on wars. As a shadow, it was his responsibility to ensure that he did everything in his power to protect and defend those he deemed worthy without notice or suspicion.

He spent the rest of Friday reading. He guzzled down so many vanilla coffees that his head began hurting from the excessive caffeine and he read so much on the shaky treaty between Teiko and Seirin and their surrounding areas that his eyes began pulsating in his head. He called Kagura to make sure she was safe and gave a very important assignment to his fox friend before going to bed, but sleep eluded him.

Nearly three decades after the last Purge, Teiko’s prime minister had finally passed an act a few years before the turn of the decade, before Tetsuya was born, legalizing the public use of metahuman abilities, stating that it was only fair that the people be able to make use of every talent available to them for a better quality of life. He made metaphors using the average prodigy or genius and stating that one wouldn’t demand that they hinder themselves for the sake of a few fragile egos.

Seirin’s leader denied this, saying that the metahumans should learn to function on humanity’s terms and work hard for their positions, since they already had a huge natural advantage over regular humans. The country was basically split down the middle in the decision, Teiko supporters saying that everyone deserved the right to use their talents as they pleased and the Seirinese stating that everyone deserved an equal opportunity and that it wasn’t possible with the minority flaunting their abilities.

Tetsuya thought it was all a rather childish game of teacher’s pet but it was enough to split an entire nation into two. Underneath the banner of Teiko were Touou, Kaijou, Kamata and Rakuzan while Seirin’s hold extended to Shuutoku, Tokyo and Yosen. As a matter of fact, Rakuzan, the biggest state in the Teiko-Seirin company, was split into North, South and Central Rakuzan where the southerners backed Teiko and the northerners backed Seirin. Central Rakuzan was famously known as the ‘middle ground’ as the governor was neutral on the whole thing and allowed his people to do as they pleased.

This attack could mean many things for the entire nation. It could all be a rather unlikely coincidence and most likely would be known as an isolated incident and never brought up again, it could be treated as a scandal or screw-up and a scapegoat party arrested and blamed to dispel the fear in the public’s hearts while the actual threat was neutralized quietly or, it could signal the beginnings of a revolution.

And if the evidence wasn’t already clear enough, it would be a bloody one.

 

* * *

 

Saturday morning heralded new dawn. Spring was in full swing and Tetsuya shivered a bit at the thought of having to clear up the backyard from nearly a whole week’s worth of cherry petals and leaves. Tetsuya threw on a simple white kimono over his sleeping garments and stepped outside, inhaling the fresh air before gathering the necessary tools for tending to the gardens and beginning his morning’s work.

At nearly nine in the morning, he had managed to pile the majority of the leaves and petals into three large piles and had already invited the observing birds to take their pick of the twigs for their nests. He was resting at the base of the tree, three doves and a winter pheasant roosting about him as he read the second book left to him. _‘A Guide to Poisons and Antidotes’_ by Haru K-kun was a comprehensive volume. Tetsuya wasn’t even halfway through but he had already marked down nearly the entire book.

Then he picked up the small tinkling of the doorbell and frowned, his first moment of relative peace for the entire week, interrupted by someone who was probably here for his grandmother anyway. He trudged reluctantly to the door and fixed himself before opening it, silently hoping that they’d see his state of dress and deign it necessary to come back later, however, when he swung the door open, already bowing politely with a good morning rolling off of his tongue, he couldn’t help but notice that the person in front of him was neither a sleazy officer nor a nosy neighbor. In fact, the man in front of him was tall.

Tetsuya frowned inwardly as he craned his neck to see the man’s face, blinking at the vibrant viridian hair and thick glasses that adorned the man’s head. He was wearing a silver hakama and a blue haori with a white and grey kimono top loosely hanging on his shoulders. Then Tetsuya noticed the very bright, very hot pink cat ears that were attached to his head, clashing horribly with his natural hair colour.

The blue haired teen blinked several times at the man in his doorway before deciding that he’s stood in the door for long enough, “I’m Kuroko. Is there any way I can help you? Are you lost?”

The man seemed ill at ease, he stood stiffly at attention and though he gave the slightest incline of his head to return the polite greeting, he had yet to say a word. He kept glancing to the right as though he was hearing a voice directing him and he swallowed thickly before adjusting his glasses (which had slipped about half a millimeter off of his nose) and introducing himself.

“Good morning, Kuroko-san. I was told by Takao to pick you up at this location for the day’s proceedings.”

Tetsuya wanted to laugh. The poor guy was speaking like a butler and due to the way he kept glancing to his taped hands, he’d probably written the lines down there somewhere. He was so obviously uncomfortable with the arrangement that Tetsuya had to smile at the ridiculous display.

“Ah. I’ll go get ready, then.” He closed the door and moved briskly to get to his room, fuming at the fact that he had forgotten about the date.

As he changed his clothes he stopped for a bit and thought about the voice of the butler. It was deep and smooth and taped fingers told of the preciousness of his hands. Tetsuya paused and frowned.

Did he just close the door in Takao’s best friend’s face?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, All done (finally)
> 
> As you can see, I lied about this being the date chapter. The next one is definitely the date chapter. I was planning to do all of this in one huge chapter, but I was just that, huge. I’m sorry Midorima’s only lines thus far are awkward lines but he’ll have an actual speaking role next chap.
> 
> I feel really horrible that you guys pumped yourself for what was supposed to be an awesome chapter and instead you get this, but I still thank you dorks for reading the and comment because I love hearing your opinion on everything~~  
> Well, I’ll see you guys around


	5. On Tea Time with a Cancer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Midorima and Kuroko finally meet and have meaningful conversations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look, I actually updated twice in one week?! What? I think I’m getting a sickness guys, it’s called inspiration~
> 
> But no, seriously, I’m off until next week Thursday from school because we’re celebrating Carnival in my country and I literally just finished sketching out Leo! Forme Midorin. I’ve been trying to write this out for at least two days but Midorima man! He’s difficult to write for me~ 
> 
> A certain PM ninja’s been keeping inspired with our dere rants and willful conversations, so thank you for that! I’m hoping that people aren’t too confused with Midorin, but what can I do? Oh and fair warning, this chap shows a few people's Points of View, not just Tetsun's, so be careful!

**_Somewhere In the Touou District…_ **

It was a truly beautiful morning, Kagura thought, as she strolled idly through the dirty streets of Touou. Her sharp blue eyes were scanning the area thoroughly as she kept on the lookout for any sneaking pickpockets looking to make a fast dollar off of a ‘tourist’. She opted out of wearing her usual robes for the day’s excursion and instead was donning a simple black pencil skirt and a bright blue ruffled blouse, keeping her hair in its usual tight bun.

Touou was definitely one of the less…appealing districts in the Seirin-Teiko company and probably one of the most destructive since the whole debacle had started, but even her, with all of her high upbringing and clean practices, couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t entirely horrible in his place. The entire district seemed to all be one monotonous shade of grey with garbage piled along the streets and dirt-stained children amusing themselves with what little they had. Beggars and the disabled lined the roads and petty thieves and criminals lined the alleyways, waiting patiently for someone to make a wrong move and come into their webs. However, even with all this, she could still hear children’s laughter and she could still see smiling people. Touou folk were resilient and though they were not as well off as some districts, the people weren’t completely discontent.

A sudden nudge to her legs had her spinning on her heels, arms already trapping the stubby fingers that had dared to try to steal from her pockets. She pivoted and grabbed the young boy by the bicep, squeezing and making him let go of her purse. He exhaled loudly through his teeth and in the corner of her eyes, she spotted soot-covered midnight blue.

“Ah! Lemme go!”

She stopped and looked at him. He was surprisingly tall and very dark with distinctively slanted midnight eyes and matching short, scruffy deep blue hair. His face was set into a harsh scowl as he failed to tug his hand away from Kagura’s iron grip.

Realization dawned on her and a small gasp escaped Kagura’s lips unbidden and her grip slackened, allowing the boy to slip away with a small blue spark erupting over his forearm, the shouted words ‘crazy bitch’ the only indication that he was ever there. The elderly Kuroko blinked and suddenly a small smile curled at her lips.

“How interesting. They still exist…”

She picked her purse up and paused.

Ah, the brat had managed to take nearly thirty dollars from her.

She straightened herself out and continued walking in the direction of the bus stop, what a beautiful place, indeed.

* * *

 

Tetsuya tentatively sipped his steaming cup of tea as the impassive viridian eyes of Midorima Shintarou stared back at him unflinchingly. He had ran back and invited the butler into the house, so as to not seem too disrespectful while he changed and got ready for his day with Takao-san, but when he had come back downstairs, the green crowned man was reading a small book that had quite literally appeared from absolutely nowhere.

Tetsuya had then offered him something to drink, but he had respectably declined, preferring to close his book shut and stare at Tetsuya as he drank the last of his tea. It was a bit uncomfortable at most, Tetsuya thought, having such focused eyes studying his every movement, but the blue-haired phantom was doing his best to ignore the twitching feeling in his shoulders.

The silence was overwhelmingly heavy and the atmosphere was ridiculously tense and for the first time, Tetsuya couldn’t read someone he just met. Midorima’s body language was stiff and awkward, almost as if he was expecting someone or something to jump on him at any moment. His taped fingers were resting in his laps and he was incredibly straight-faced, not betraying a single emotion as he looked at Tetsuya. The phantom himself was getting increasing wary of the glasses that sat on his face, since Midorima had been doing nothing but making eye contact with Tetsuya and to both his relief and anxiety, none of his thoughts were betrayed.

Another sip. More silence.

He couldn’t take this anymore.

“So, Midorima-san, correct?”

The green haired man blinked, most likely not expecting Tetsuya to break the silence first and then nodded, “Yes. And I assume that you’re Kuroko-san? You are a bit younger than I pictured, I must say.”

This time Tetsuya did twitch, “Yes. I expect that it’s not a problem?”

Midorima seemed to catch on to his mistake and quickly backtracked, “No, not at all. I’m simply surprised that someone of your stature was able to help Kazunari that much—not that size is a problem or anything.”

Tetsuya paused and allowed himself an inward smile, Kazunari? So not a butler, something more personal?

“It’s fine. No harm done, though I must ask, why couldn’t Takao-san pick me up himself?”

Midorima averted his gaze a bit and Tetsuya swore he saw a small splotch of pink on his rather pale skin, “He was a bit tired. He insisted that I guide you to our home however, so here I am.”

Tetsuya carefully placed his teacup down, filing that information away for later and standing, “On that note I suppose, perhaps we should get moving.”

Midorima adjusted his glasses, slightly, pushing them up to the bridge of his nose and then leaving his fingers there, “We can leave at any moment. We are walking, so time is not an issue.”

Tetsuya nodded and got up from the chair he had been sitting in, taking his chinaware and placing it into the sink before tying his hair up into a high ponytail and adjusting his happily chiming kanzashi to suit. He moved quickly to the front door and grabbed an overcoat to combat the chilly spring air and turned to face his guest who was now standing and stretching out the kinks that had formed after sitting perfectly still for about half an hour. He opened the door and allowed Midorima to exit first in a whirl of silver and green before closing the door behind him and locking it.

* * *

****

It had been a bit of an experience, Shintarou would admit, having to leave his forest so early in the morning to accommodate a curious child that had happened to save Kazunari from a rather unsavory situation, but if fate had put them together in that moment, then he supposed, as a keeper of the Oha-Asa, it was his job to show gratitude.

Today happened to be in Leo’s favour, much to Shintarou’s chagrin however, which meant that he’d be walking around in a glamoured bi-pedal form until he got back to the other side of his barrier. His fingers itched to simply call off the illusion with a simple snap of his well-taped fingers, but he always treated excursions outside of his forest as exercises of self-control, especially in the lieu of the newfound animosity for super-powered individuals which was heightened in this empathic form and only ever led to headaches for him and amusement for his partner.

Speaking of Kazunari, he would have to give him a new lesson on map drawing. The crumpled, quickly sketched lines that he had given him the night before led him to six different locations, none of which were the actual home of Kuroko, which he eventually found by asking a pedestrian.

Kuroko Tetsuya.

As of now, Shintarou had no outstanding thoughts about him. Most likely, fate had simply smiled upon Kazunari and rescued him from the mob by using a non-descript individual, but then, it was even more strange. Of the thirty-three minutes and seventeen seconds spent observing the small boy drink tea, Shintarou had determined that he was bred for demure and traditional behavior. He carried himself proudly, yet held a slight incline to his shoulders; his face was perfectly blank (which Shintarou thought was a bit disconcerting, especially since it was such a good poker face), but Shintarou found that he was also a bit airheaded, after he had attempted to start a conversation and was completely ignored. So really, Shintarou was very curious to find out how the small boy walking next to him could’ve possibly made such an impact on the situation.

Logically, it left metahumanity, but then most individuals with that sort of power in comparison to their stature carried a more selfish pride, at least they were supposed to. Unless he was from a clan or was like Shintarou himself and was raised by spirits or keepers and was taught to keep a low profile, but he had little aura about him and seemed unaware of the pendant attached to his ear, so that was also probably out.

That left being raised by a clan. It would explain the heavy robes and inclination to manners, but the house wasn’t large enough for more than maybe six people and if the personal items found in the waiting room were any indication, Kuroko lived with either his mother or another mother-like figure, like his grandmother or aunt.   

And then there was the fact that he was an Aquarius according to Kazunari which made Shintarou’s fingers twitch at the simple thought. He had never managed to formally meet the spirit Aquarius outside of messages sent to him via Pisces or Gemini, but he could already feel the barely there aura of his companion grating against his naturally cautious nature.

Blank-faced, hard to read, air-headed, traditional and mild-mannered. Really Kazunari, what kind of people do you think you’re bringing into my territory?

* * *

 

The air had warmed marginally by the time they had started walking to wherever Midorima was leading him and Tetsuya took the time to observe him a bit closer, a bit frustrated at the fact that he couldn’t really get a good read on him. Tetsuya walked a few steps behind him, enough that it would seem that he was following closely so he wouldn’t get lost but far enough that Midorima wouldn’t be uncomfortable and become stiffer than he was back at the house.

The first thing he noticed was the continual twitching of the first three fingers of his right hand at random intervals. It seemed to be more of a nervous or anxious habit than anything, and Tetsuya noticed that they twitched more violently when he moved closer to Midorima. He also noticed the slight sparkle in the air as his fingers twitched, which probably indicated a glamour or an illusion controlled by his hands.

His way of walking was controlled, measured carefully as though each step was a huge decision that would spin out of control if they were even half a millimeter off the mark and he kept his eyes straight, never glancing back to confirm whether or not Tetsuya was actually following him or not. Tetsuya still was unsure of whether or not his glasses were tinted or frosted, since the sun seemed to not bother him at all, and he still had no luck hearing his thoughts, in passing, which made him breathe a bit easier at the notion of being in the presence of a quiet thinker. At least, he wouldn’t have to pretend to be interested when talking to him.

His age was also hard to average. Midorima looked around Takao’s age, so maybe sixteen or seventeen, which puts him at, the least four years older than Tetsuya himself. Takao was nineteen, so maybe they were roommates and lived in an apartment? They seemed pretty familiar with each other, so that couldn’t be too far off.

“How old are you, Kuroko-san, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Twelve.”

“I see.”

Tetsuya didn’t even know what that was about. It was sudden and clipped and left almost no room for a continued conversation, which made Tetsuya a bit wary of any other queries coming his way. Then again, maybe he could ask a question in return…

“And you Midorima-san?”

There was a pause and Tetsuya thought that he was thinking about whether or not he wanted to answer the question, but then the green haired teen suddenly stopped in front of a small gated playground that was nigh abandoned.

Tetsuya was caught off guard for the umpteenth time as Midorima created a small ornate key out of some sort of astral energy and opened the gate in a small white flash, revealing lush trees and warm sunlight that seemed to disappear down the horizon.

Suddenly, he wondered if he should’ve worn more freeing clothes.

“This is i—Where did he go?”

It’s then the phantom realized that he had lost control of his presence, and had most likely completely disappeared from view.

“Perhaps, I walked too quickly? I did not believe that it would be a problem.”

“Midorima-san.”

Midorima looked to his left and then to his right, seemingly searching for him and completely missing him three steps to his right.

“Midorima-san.”

The green haired man sighed and materialized his book from his kimono and propped himself up next to the opening, getting ready to wait for him to show up and Tetsuya sighed, hating that he would have to actively touch the already stiff individual in front of him. He moved quickly, hand simply brushing the edge of Midorima’s overcoat when the green haired man turned on his heel, eyes blazing and an arrow made of the same astral energy found its way pointed to Tetsuya’s throat.

Tetsuya stopped and his breath hitched, as Midorima calmed slightly but still kept the arrow at his neck, “When did you get here?!”

His voice was heavy with shock and it was then that Tetsuya realized that he was acting completely on instinct. Very deadly instinct.

“I… I had been there the entire time, Midorima-san.”

He frowned dissipating the arrow and folding his arms defensively, “I would’ve seen you.”

“I called your name at least two times, Midorima-san. You didn’t hear me either.”

He looked skeptical for a bit before huffing and walking ahead of Tetsuya, pointing his fingers to the lush trees of the border, “Don’t do that again and watch your step. There are thorns after the incline.”

As Tetsuya followed his guide through the portal/ border/ he really didn’t know what it was at this point, and watched as it closed behind him, leaving nothing but lush, open forests as far as the eye could see, he hoped that this decision wouldn’t come back to haunt him.

Then everything exploded in a bright golden shower of a dropped glamour prompting Tetsuya to squeeze his eyes shut to avoid getting blinded.

* * *

 

Sitting in a vast flower garden in the middle of a beautiful forest, a man trimmed a few bright purple orchid blooms and placed them into a basket with careful hands. “Leo-chan, how d’ya think Shin-chan is doing right now?”

A tall man with blazing hair and sharp amber eyes huffed as he finished stitching together a sunflower crown, “That’s the third time you’ve asked me that in seven minutes. The answer is the same.”

Leo took the crown and snapped his fingers, setting the flowers ablaze and placing the crown on his head seemingly satisfied with his work. Takao frowned and picked another stray orchid bloom, throwing the stem at the grumpy spirit after he finished trimming it, “You know I can’t see him very well if he leaves the barrier! It’s another dimension for crying out loud.”

Leo snorted and flopped down into the flowers, minding his fiery hair so that he didn’t catch the field afire, “You can’t see anything period.”

Takao threw another withered flower at the spirit, sticking his tongue out for good measure, “You suck.”  

Leo raised a clawed hand to his face and picked at some dirt that had gotten stuck underneath his nails, “Stop that. He’ll come back soon,” he flicked the dirt in a random direction, “Besides, if you were gonna be so whiny then you should’ve just gone with him.”

Takao placed the basket of groomed orchid blooms down and groaned, “Don’t remind meee~ Shin-chan hates it when he has errands to run.”

“Shinta hates everything. It’s how he shows he cares.”

“True.”

The two continued on in a comfortable silence until Leo yawned loudly, displaying his large canines and expelling a bit of fire from his mouth, prompting Takao to laugh at the displeasure on the lion spirit’s face. Leo looked about ready to pounce on Takao when both men stopped and turned their heads in the direction of a newly opened portal to their world.

Leo sniffed, “He’s back.”

Takao smiled sharply, his eyes twinkling with barely hidden amusement, “So it begins~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can already smell the fires of outrage at not finishing the date, but this thing just got insane and I had to cut the chap down. I wanted to focus a lot more on Midorima and Kuroko sizing each other up in this (which I hope I did okay) and Midorima is not an easy character to write. Especially not with the background I have for him changing certain aspects of his personality.  
> Ugh, I’m done with this and I’m home for a couple more days, so I’ll try to have the other part up before Wednesday, no promises though


	6. On Strange Relationships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kuroko, Takao and Midorima have a fun time in the forest. 
> 
>  
> 
> Sorta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was so late, but, bruh, Kagura man. Kagura's a doosey.

Tetsuya was enamored by the forest around him. The varying shades of viridian melted into the speckled rays of sunlight that peaked playfully from in between the canopy of the tall, tall trees. He could hear the hurried shuffling of the wildlife and could see many different, distinctive blooms belonging to different climates all thriving in a sort of peaceful harmony. His eyes zeroed in on a few wisps of wolfsbane and nightshade growing peaceably around the thickening trunk of a young greenheart and he caught himself smiling gently at the scene.

“Hn. So even you can make a face like that.”

Immediately, his straightened his expression and he turned to face his guide, eyes narrowed as he mentally berated himself for letting his guard down around a stranger. Then his eyes widened and his jaw dropped in surprise as he tilted his head to look into the face of his suddenly large companion.

The bright light from before was obviously Midorima dropping his glamour, revealing a casually standing half lion- half human hybrid emitting an almost amused air about himself. The already tall individual now had a few extra feet added to his height, making him absolutely tower over Tetsuya. From the head down, he looked more or less the same, at least until Tetsuya looked at his waist, which was now morphed into a lion’s body with thick, heavily curled golden fur covering the massive legs of the hybrid. His ears were also pointed and his eyes, while still a piercing shade of green, now seemed to burn bright with emotion, even behind his strange glasses lenses.

Midorima sniffed and folded his arms across his chest, “Are you quite finished staring at me, Kuroko-san?”

Tetsuya, still not quite able to adjust his expression, blinked dumbly before closing his mouth with a sharp snap. “I’m… sorry Midorima-san,” he began slowly, still not quite believing his eyes, “It was to my understanding that the werekin had all been hunted to extinction.”

Midorima held up a hand to silence the teal haired boy, “And you are correct. They no longer exist.”

Tetsuya raised a skeptical brow, making a vague gesturing motion with his hand and Midorima’s frown deepened, annoyance near materializing around him. “My abilities are fairly complicated. This is simply a side-effect.” He then turned his head and began walking into the thicket, signaling a clear end of the discussion.

“That certainly is an interesting side effect, then.” Tetsuya hummed.

* * *

 

They walked in agitated silence for a while, Tetsuya enthusiastically drinking up the sights around him and Midorima walking carefully as he had before. Actually, Tetsuya noted, Midorima was still stiff and meticulous, even in his ‘true’ form but the air around his wasn’t as carefully blank. Instead Tetsuya could feel the annoyance emanating off of him in heated waves and he briefly toyed with the idea of Midorima being an empath before dismissing it with the wholly unfriendly way he carried himself.

A few forest going birds had conversed with him as usual and his hakama kept getting tangled in the low hanging branches, but Tetsuya had decided to enjoy the silent trip himself, mentally naming each plant he could make out along with their meaning and use.

Then, when he had named nearly three hundred flowers and herbs altogether he realized that they had been walking for nearly an hour with not a sound between them save the crunching of the leaves beneath their feet. Tetsuya was pleasantly surprised, Midorima was very used to solitude if he could go such long lengths of time without words, which probably meant that Takao wasn’t his roommate. This brought up the question then, of what, exactly they were to each other. Not brothers, not roommates, too close for friends, yet they didn’t seem to be lovers.

Tetsuya certainly couldn’t imagine Midorima being loving, at least not from what he’s seen thus far.

‘ _Then again’_ , Tetsuya thought as he stared blankly at the back of Midorima’s back, ‘ _I still can’t hear any straying thoughts,_ ’ so really, he had nothing but first impression to go on.

Quite suddenly, Midorima paused, a strange warmth falling over Tetsuya as he stopped to prevent them from colliding with each other. The green haired hybrid turned around and just about glared at Tetsuya, pinning the boy with a heavy look that made him step back subconsciously.

“If you have something to say, I suggest you say it now.”

Tetsuya found himself speechless for the second time that day. He really didn’t have much to say, nor did he make a peep, what exactly was Midorima talking about.?

The man grimaced, “You’ve been staring at my back for nearly an hour. It’s clear that you have something on your mind. I don’t particularly care about what you have to say, but it will be very inconvenient if we are to continue the trip with you not focusing.”

Tetsuya paused. Had he really been staring that intently? He didn’t have anything important on his mind, but…

“Will Midorima-san answer my questions then?”

Midorima narrowed his eyes at Tetsuya and sighed, “If it will stop your stares, then fine.” The hybrid then turned around again, this time waiting half a step for Tetsuya to catch up before striding off once more, an air of resignation replacing the heavy air that preceded it.

* * *

 

Shintarou, loathe as he was to admit it, was actually a bit amused by the young Aquarius walking next to him.

Even though the child tried very hard to seem detached from the outside world (and Shintarou didn’t think for a second that he wasn’t), he was instantly enthralled by the world that Shintarou cultivated himself. He was very wide-eyed and bushy-tailed for nearly ten minutes after they had crossed the barrier and begun walking before snapping out of his childish stupor when he realized just how silly he was acting. Then he began staring at Shintarou’s back, slowly driving the keeper to the point of breaking fifty-three minutes and forty-one seconds later.

Shintarou still doesn’t know what possessed him to tell the boy that he could ask him questions, but, what’s done was done. Shintarou was never fond of sharing personal information, no, he had Kazunari and his mess of a pseudo family for that, but somehow, the child had squeezed his age, hobby and favorite food out of him. 

He really didn’t mind a few questions here and there, the child would not stop talking, and it was beginning to annoy him once more.

“What kind of magic do you use? And how is it related to the pendant on your ear?”

Shintarou smothered a grimace. He was very proud of his magic, despite the secrecy of the practice, but after seeing the child’s reaction to his Leo form, he could already imagine the endless stream of questions that would spew from the seemingly stoic child. He flicked his fingers into the air allowing a dark void to form around his hand and coat his fist. It was warm and incredibly cold at the same time and due to his form for the day, it was tinted in vermillion.

“Astral magic. If god disposes and man proposes, then I am he who possesses the knowledge to bestow balance between the two.” Then he paused, he never mentioned that he used magic. How in the world…

“Astral magic doesn’t result in physical changes, Midorima-san.”

Shintarou adjusted his glasses and folded his arms in front of him, frown now etched into his face, “And how would you know that. You most certainly don’t possess the ability.”

Shintarou watched from the corner of his eyes as the teal haired boy focused on a crimson butterfly that was effortlessly floating by before answering the query. “There have been no documentations of space-time abilities causing non-hereditary genetic mutations.” Kuroko held out his pale fingers and allowed the butterfly to rest upon his outstretched hand, “Besides, you look more like a fire spirit. If you’re going to lie, please make it a believable tale.”

Shintarou could feel the beginnings of a telltale pounding of his brain against his skull. While the child was not wrong, not by a long shot, he _did_ naturally possess astral magic.

Plus that ‘lie’ would’ve fooled anyone but this brat.

“I don’t tell lies,” Shintarou confidently began, “I was born with astral magic and that is what I use.”

He heard Kuroko hum disbelievingly to himself and then heard a sharp intake of breath. He didn’t need to turn around to know that the boy’s usually blank expression was replaced with that of childish wonder as he gazed upon the plains that lied at the bottom of the upcoming hill, the center of the maze of  magically enhanced trees. A small smirk graced his features, he had managed to silence the nosy child with his hand grown offerings to the Horoscopial Deities. Flimsy nature magic could never hope to produce the pure special energy that wafted off of the blooms nor could even the fiercest elemental spells conjure the proper conditions required for growing so many varied flowers in the same expanse of land.

This was something only a god could do.

Something only _he_ could do.

“So, you _are_ a werekin!” The accusation was subtly layered into Kuroko’s monotone but Shintarou caught it and he instantly swiveled around, eyes blazing behind his fixed lens and aura lighting around him.

“I am _not_ a blasted werekin, you infernal child!”

He quickly inhaled and calmed himself, headache fully beating against his brain. As much as he loved his little slice of home, he hated how the pure atmosphere made it that much more difficult to keep a cool head. Being in such an emotionally attuned form was also not helping in his struggles in the slightest.

He glanced over at Kuroko, snorting silently to himself when he noticed that the boy’s hair was covered in the crimson insects and that he had somehow picked a stray sunflower and tucked it into his bangs while they were walking and sighed. “I am sorry for raising my voice at you, Kuroko-san. Please follow me, we are almost to the house.”

“Yes,” Kuroko nodded, voice back to being monotonous, “I’m sorry also. I should not have doubted the merit of your words.”

Shintarou huffed as the slightly formal bow the boy issued before turning around and continuing padding down the incline towards his home. At the very least, the boy was polite and pleasant enough to make up for his horrible nature.

“You’re obviously a fire mage.”

.

.

.

Shintarou took it back. This child was obviously a horrible, horrible excuse for a human being.

* * *

 

Kazunari Takao moaned longingly as he arranged the last batch of orchid blooms in preparation of his guest. He could see Shintarou clearly, they were actually less than five minutes away from the large cottage that served as his and his companion’s home, but he and Kuroko were taking _so_ long to walk through the plains. And what was with that boy picking up so many insects? Usually whenever Kazunari stopped to smell the snapdragons, the bees snapped back, so why was _he_ so special.

Kazunari already knew that the boy was able to become invisible. It was a pretty uninteresting ability by itself, but when the child had invited him into his home, he knew that he couldn’t pass on the chance to play with someone so intriguing.

Firstly, Kuroko Kagura was his grandmother and mentor from the looks of things. _Kuroko Kagura._ As in the Shuutoku rep on the Teiko High Council Kuroko Kagura.

Kazunari already knew all the surface details about her, like her never-aging façade and her sharp wit and sharper tongue. She was revered as the hidden dagger of Rakuzan in her glory days, often shutting down the Seirinese monarchy with her air-tight plots and stopping the Teiko heads of council from destroying themselves with her imposing presence and statements that could shatter concrete.

But, Kazunari idly stuck another orchid bloom into the crystal vase in the center of the picnic table, he was also privy to a few other interesting, lesser known facts about the high standing woman. Like the fact that she cut ties with her youngest son after he ran off to marry a businesswoman from Yosen and open a teahouse, or, the fact that anyone who stood against the woman always mysteriously backed down, moved away or disappeared completely without a trace before reappearing with no recollection of ever even _knowing_ a Kuroko Kagura.

The black haired man smiled softly as he marveled the finished arrangement and hummed a soundless tune as he meandered into the kitchen to bring out the food.

Or, even curiouser, the fact that Kuroko Kagura was a registered Black Operative in the last war between Teiko and Seirin. She was known as the Poisoned Dagger and was one of the catalysts in the last leg of the brutal battle, but Kazunari knew for a fact that her name and records had all been destroyed ten times over and no one except a few high profile persons even knew who she really was.

Well, and him anyway.

Kazunari started working on arranging the sandwiches on the table, contemplating briefly on adding a plate for Leo before tossing the idea away. The spirit preferred eating the meat raw anyway.

Now, the woman was raising an incredibly interesting apprentice. The boy was already able to become invisible, that already eliminated the need for misdirection training as well as stealth lessons, and from the prolonged interaction they had had, Kazunari could already tell that boy was versed in mind games and interrogation. He had a certain way of speaking that gave him away instantly.

He was incredibly ready to find out just how much more the young Kuroko heir had learned from his talented elder.

“Kazunari. I’m home”

Kazunari smirked dangerously, sliver eyes glinting like polished silver at the voice of the object of his interest murmuring a soft, polite ‘pardon the intrusion’.

Let the games begin, indeed.

He plastered a simple smile on his face and paused in his idle fixing of the porcelain plates, “Welcome home, Shin-chan~!”

* * *

 

Tetsuya stood awkwardly off to the side as Takao flitted in from a back room, black hair matted with fragile, purple petals and bright green apron covered in burn marks and some weird pink substance and attached himself to Midorima, pressing a small kiss to his cheek and causing the green haired hybrid to blush slightly. That certainly answered the question that had been plaguing Tetsuya for the better half of the day, but then it brought up many more, like how old was Takao if Midorima was nineteen? Or how did they live together if Midorima was so at home in piercing silence?

The two exchanged quiet pleasantries, Takao seeming very used to maneuvering around Midorima’s huge form, before the cheery raven turned his attention towards Tetsuya himself.

“Welcome to our humble abode, kid! As thanks for saving me, I want to treat you to the best picnic this side of the forest can offer!” Takao punctuated his statements with a quick ruffle of his hair, which dislodged his sunflower and shook his kanzashi to the point of ringing annoyingly.

Tetsuya quickly slapped his hand away, just the slightest bit irritated with his… host, but, due to his lessons with his grandmother was unable to display anything other than polite pleasure at being invited.

Takao seemed unbothered by his curt greeting and grabbed his hand, pulling him deeper into the house, his face fixed into a sly grin. “Shin-chan said that he’ll finish up with the picnic preparations, so I can give you the full tour of Casa de Takarima!”

“Takarima?”

Takao grinned and stopped at the beginning of the main hall, hands tucked into the pockets of his apron. “Yup. From Takao and Midorima. Combine them and you get ‘Takarima’, see?”

Tetsuya blinked at the incredibly childish logic behind the name, but found the excitement vibrating around the raven incredibly infectious and smiled slightly. “Or Midao.”

Evidently, that was the right thing to say as Takao smiled brightly and grabbed onto his hand once more, “I knew there was something I liked about you! This is the first room, the living room.”

As soon as Takao opened the door, the duo was greeted to the sight of half the room encased in light purple flames and a tall fire haired man attempting to put out the closest set of fires with the once pristine leather couch. A pungent aroma resembling burnt horse and wood pervaded the air and though the fire was smokeless, the scent of fire immediately seeped to the rest of the hallway.

Takao immediately closed the door and redirected Tetsuya to further down the hall, smile still firmly fixed in place even though he was sweating buckets from the sweltering heat that they were just privy to.

“…Takao-san?”

“Maybe I should start with the garden. Do you want to see the garden, Kuroko-kun?”

“Was the room just-“ “YEAH! The garden seems like the best idea. Let’s go!”

* * *

 

The garden was incredibly breath-taking, with the large, well irrigated plain behind the cottage boasting nearly three hundred different types of trees and flowers, at least according to Takao. Tetsuya found himself smiling throughout the entire tour as Takao explained a few stories behind some of the plants and gave Tetsuya the freedom to take a few sprigs of sunflower to grow at home.

Tetsuya learned many interesting things about his host for the day while they explored the vast garden. Things like Takao’s sick sister and his hopes of becoming a “school teacher or something”. He learned that Takao had known Midorima for nearly ten years and that he was one year younger than Midorima which put him at eighteen.

He was charismatic and apparently incredibly brilliant in the three moments Tetsuya had managed to catch him off guard answering questions about some of the more obscure blooms in the garden swiftly before stopping himself and smiling simply almost as though trying to erase the brief sliver of intelligence from existing.

Tetsuya also learned that Takao was fond of the deer that lived in the forests fencing the garden but hated even passing near the sunflowers since the bees guarded them aggressively. Takao was very fond of invading Tetsuya’s personal space and treated him like a little brother even though they had barely met. He was also well versed in the art of story-telling and had even showed Tetsuya a few card tricks, dazzling the boy with misdirection even though Tetsuya knew the secrets behind each one of petty card tricks.  He didn’t care about formalities or that Tetsuya was still very carefully observing him and his actions and soon, Tetsuya was swept up in the adventure and forgot to mentally keep track of his surroundings and company. 

It was well past midday when Midorima showed up once more, this time with the Combustion Man (as Takao had dubbed him) in tow. The tall ginger was pouting like a scolded child as he rolled a small buffet table laden with finger foods and drinks towards the two who were sitting under the shade of a large immortelle exchanging knock-knock jokes and braiding flower crowns.

Takao laughed often and loudly, Tetsuya had learned, and the sight of his annoyed lover glaring at the impetuous looking man was apparently too hilarious to help. The raven wiped tears from his eyes before getting up and strolling towards the mismatched pair and was still giggling as he took the tablecloth from the frowning man, raising a dusty hand to straighten out the crease in Midorima’s brow and blowing a raspberry at the still flaming man.

‘Combustion Man’ was growling loudly in his head, spitting curses at someone named Virgo and, surprisingly, at Takao and though Tetsuya tried his hardest not to listen in more, he couldn’t help but overhear the man’s mutterings about the Oha-Asa.

That was certainly not something Tetsuya had heard about before.

He didn’t have much time to think about it however, as Midorima quickly organised the food and drinks and had them seated and eating before Tetsuya knew it. Midorima lounged elegantly closest to the tree trunk and chose to eat a few bean filled sandwiches and Takao sat next to him, placing his flower crown onto the tall hybrid’s head and swiping his glasses, much to Midorima’s annoyance. Tetsuya was pleased to note that Midorima did indeed have double toned eyes. They were a deep viridian like the forest that they were relaxing in that had a ring of blazing red going around his pupils. Takao stole tiny pieces of Midorima’s sandwiches and intermittently fed him small pieces of his own custard sweets to quell his irritation. Tetsuya actually felt like he was intruding on something personal as he observed them and after seeing Midorima smile softly at something that caused Takao to nearly spit his cookies out in laughter, turned away to focus on the other individual sitting dejectedly on the corner of the picnic blanket.

The fiery haired man was slouching and aggressively munching on some seaweed wrapped sashimi showing off his scarily sharp front canines and exhaling air hot enough to char the fish before it even got past his lips which just infuriated him more. His amber eyes were rimmed in kohl and he had a single diamond earring dangling from his left ear that seemed to have a peculiar symbol engraved into it in burning crimson. Tetsuya was very certain that he would probably set the entire picnic cloth ablaze if someone didn’t calm him down, so he moved to sit at a respectable distance away from the burning man.

 As soon as he moved, the piercing gaze was trained onto him and the burning man stared sympathetically at him before offering a very burned piece of tuna with a bright smile. “The lovebirds making’ you feel awkward, huh?”

Tetsuya nodded and introduced himself which caused the large man to smile wider, if that was even possible. “You have a pretty weird way of doing things, Blue,”

“Please don’t call me that.”

“-I mean you rife through my head and then introduce yourself? Pretty strange.”

Tetsuya’s breath caught in his throat and he looked into the man’s eyes with skittish fear, the emotion clear on his face. The man groaned and swallowed the piece of fish that he was chewing, “I didn’t mean to scare you, kid! I’m Leo, though I’m sure you already knew that much. The green one is my kid, you know.”

Tetsuya tried his best to still his breathing as he thought about the new information Leo had given him. If Midorima was Leo’s son then that would definitely explain the fire affinity, but, Tetsuya scrutinized Leo a bit more, nothing on Leo even remotely suggested that he was a werekin.

“Don’t lie, Midorima-san uses astral magic.”

Leo grabbed another piece of fish off of the chinaware, “Oh,” he breathed on it deliberately this time, only slightly burning it, “You believe him?”

“More than you, at the moment.”

Leo hummed, tapping his clawed fingers along the plastic of his picnic cup, “That’s not very nice, yeah?”

Tetsuya didn’t like this particular character one bit, “You aren’t being very nice either, Leo-san.”

The two fell into a tense silence after which lasted only three seconds before Takao’s cackles echoed throughout the garden, forcing a smile onto Tetsuya’s face as he watched the raven roll in amusement.

* * *

 

The rest of the day was spent with Midorima and Leo cleaning up after lunch and Takao and Tetsuya playing flower tag and just generally messing around in the garden and forest. The final game of flower tag saw Midorima playing along and winning in a whirlwind of gold, red and green after Takao made an off-handed comment about the man being slow in his form. At the end of the day, Midorima himself gifted Tetsuya with a flower crown made of purple orchids as well as a heavily veiled invite back whenever he wished. Takao gave the teal haired boy his phone number as well as the number for their landline (though Tetsuya was very interested to know how inter-dimensional calls registered on his phone) and walked him back to the barrier with an indulgent smile on his face.

Tetsuya was humming the tasteless tune that Takao had been singing throughout their game as he walked toward the bus stop since he had decided that he was very tired after keeping up with Midorima’s interesting moods and Takao’s never-ending energy. As he sat on the bench, a tall, sly-looking man wearing glasses approached him and sat next to him.

Tetsuya didn’t even need to look at the newcomer to know that he was a meta since the tattoos on his forearms were telling enough. He had black slick hair and was dressed in a deep blue basketball vest and black running pants which proudly showed his marks of Seihou. They sat in silence for a bit before the man held his hand out. “Imayoshi. Nice to meet you.”

Tetsuya hesitated for just a beat before shaking back, “Kuroko. The sentiment is shared.”

Imayoshi leaned back and allowed his head to thunk dully against edge of the bench, “’S always nice to meet a brother-in-arms, right Kuroko-chan?”

Tetsuya was about to ask about what he meant when the man pointed at his marks silencing the boy, “Takes one to know one and all of that, but, it’s not every day you see another telepath, right?”

If Tetsuya shifted away from the newcomer after that, then Imayoshi didn’t mention it. Instead, the male stood up and stretched, smirk stretching unnervingly across his face, ”My ride is here, so I suppose I’ll see you around Kuroko-chan.”

Tetsuya watched silently as the bus rolled down the street and stopped to pick Imayoshi up. He waited in silence for his six o clock bus and stopped short of his home to pick up dinner at Maji Burger and sipped his vanilla milkshake contemplatively as he walked home.

What an interesting day, right, grandmother?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do have to explain a few things in the universe as they come along to avoid crud tonnes of confusion since the characters technically don't know much either. Lots of the notes at the end of the chapter are going to have these glossary-type things, so 's good to read these, yeah?
> 
>  
> 
> On the Mark of Seihou:  
> Rakuzan is located in the middle of the Seirin-Teiko company and is by far the largest district in the country. Central Rakuzan is neutral, South Rakuzan is Teiko land and North Rakuzan is known as Seihou or Seirin’s capital. Seihou is also known as the ‘City in Stone’ as it was built in walls of Witcher’s Stone under the rule of the third king of Seirin Kagetora Riko.   
>  Witcher’s Stone is a special type of magic conductive stone that’s used for halting the function of elemental magics and general spells like glamours and artificial invisibility. The stones used in building Seihou’s walls were specially enchanted to detect and disturb the function of non-human cells, effectively keeping all metahumans out of Seihou. With the turn of the century and the alliance between Seirin and Teiko, the counterspell for the Witcher’s Stone’s charm was revealed and outposts were built for drawing the counterspell on the forearms of metahumans so that they too would enjoy Seihou.
> 
>  
> 
> On Werekin and Werewolf Kind:  
>  In the early history of Teiko, the werekin were famously known as the guardians of the borders between Teiko and Seirin. They were half animal-half human creatures that usually had a strong affinity for natural magic such as plant spells or wind magic. They were also known for their amazing eyesight and overall enhanced abilities, though enhancements changed from animal to animal. During the bouts of war between Seirin and Teiko, the werekin were among the first species to perish, especially since the vast majority of them were humble herbivorous creatures that didn't wish to fight. The most famous werekin was an old bear that controlled lightning. It was said that before he was killed, he wiped out two battalions of Seirinese soldiers before succumbing to his injuries.
> 
> The werekin are also one of the only species to be completely annihilated in the wars between Seirin and Teiko.


	7. On Letters from A Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tetsuya talks to an old friend and then makes a new one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I really, really don’t have a reason for this extreme lateness, I just didn’t wanna write. But now I’m back, I guess. I’m really hesitant about this chapter, but there are some surprises, I suppose also Shigehiro is really too much fun to write. Also, don’t trust Imayoshi guys. Just… don’t.

It snowed lightly on Sunday, draping the streets in a blanket of white and chilling the air back to uncomfortable temperatures. Tetsuya sat with his legs under the kotatsu and watched the sun rise from the windows, a glass of green tea held in his right hand and pages filled with the deranged scribbling of his great grandfather in his left. He had taken it upon himself to research the artifacts of Seirin after his get together with Takao and Midorima and he was rather surprised to find files in his grandmother’s safe detailing the nature of most of the clan artifacts. Apparently, his great grandfather had worked as a spy and scribe to the king.

Among the numerous notes about jewels and necklaces, secret techniques and enchantments, there was one inconspicuous page written in green ink about the Kiyoshi Raid. The Oha-Asa had belonged to one Kiyoshi Hanatarou who was called an oracle by the people of Yosen. Based on what Tetsuya could decipher, the keeper, in this case Kiyoshi, was able to predict the future, both of the nations and of people, to a scarily accurate degree. He was also gifted with multiple elemental magics and had mastery over several types of weapons including the naginata, the glaive and bludgeoning weapons. When they had gone to apprehend him and seize the book, he effortlessly dispatched the entire armada and gave instructions to his great-grandfather to never interfere with his clan henceforth. The rest of the paper was filled with unreadable symbols and notches that looked like a language that Tetsuya did not know.

Tetsuya found it odd. The Kiyoshi were a clan of very hidden practices and rituals. There wasn’t much documented about them except that their dogmatic approach against Seirin was suddenly destroyed when the clan head joined Seirin at the end of the third Purge. No one knows about the circumstances of that crossover, but many people whispered about threats against the clan and another genocidal move by Seirin, so to find such details about them, even if it was just one of them, hidden in the walls of his grandmother’s house made him both wary and excited.

He sighed heavily and got up, stretching out the kinks in his shoulder and back and tying up his hair with a stray elastic. The weather wasn’t exactly favorable, but he still had to shovel the snow just in case anyone decided to show up and he had to pick up groceries. He had exercised earlier in the morning so his muscles were just beginning to ache with the strain of overexertion. Tetsuya was getting better, he was able to flow from one form to the other effortlessly and his breathing remained even throughout the entire hour and a half, but without a sparring partner, he couldn’t know if he would be able to fight effectively.

He started walking towards the kitchen when his laptop trilled loudly underneath the large piles of papers strewn over it and Tetsuya’s heart dropped to his toes. There were only three people who ever emailed him and of that ridiculously small number, his family made up two thirds. He quickly placed his cup on the counter closest to him and rushed back to his computer, hastily stacking the papers on the floor next to him to get to the keyboard.

His monitor was a simple dark blue wash and his shortcuts were all encrypted in Latin, Kagura had always stressed the importance of keeping his private files just that. Private. Tetsuya wasn’t exactly what he’d readily call ‘techno-savvy’, he only knew enough about how computers worked to be able to do basic encryption and file scrambles, but it helped that he’d continuously mess around with the encryption techniques until the files and messages were little more than billions of bits of data completely impossible to decipher, let alone actively piece together. He typed in his password and opened up his inbox, nearly flinching backwards in surprise when he saw who the email was from.

Shigehiro actually messaged back.

Shigehiro Ogiwara was just about the only person in the entire world who knew all of Tetsuya’s dirty little secrets and still didn’t care. It helped that he was born into one of the last pureblood clans in Rakuzan, but his family had moved him to Shuutoku to be with his big brother and to get him away from the madness at the main house. He used to live across the street and when Tetsuya was still too new to Shuutoku and his grandmother’s peculiarities, Shigehiro used to sneak over the threshold and ‘borrow’ (read kidnap) Tetsuya to play in the fields. When Tetsuya had begun training seriously, Shigehiro had requested that Kagura make him an apprentice too (so that Tetsuya wouldn’t have to go through hell alone, he remembered the idiot saying). They were inseparable for two years, but then…

Then Kagura decided that they knew enough to give them jobs.

Tetsuya still had nightmares about the night of their last job together. He could still smell the blood on his hands, the coppery scent filling the small room and Shigehiro’s wide, frightened eyes and… Tetsuya immediately inhaled and stuffed that memory deep inside of his subconscious because, no, he wasn’t going to start throwing up his tea over something that happened over a year ago, he lived with the woman that forced him to do that and he was just going to learn to deal with the sickening feeling pooling in his gut and the distrust that bubbled in his head whenever Kagura mentioned ‘work’.

Anyway, Shige, right.

The brunet boy was taken by one of the main house monkeys (his words, not Tetsuya’s) on a retreat of sorts. He had limited ways to communicate and little to no human contact save someone he referred to as a ‘goddamn shadowy bastard’ (because that’s the extent of his maturity and it made Tetsuya’s lips curl in poorly hidden mirth every time he complained about his babysitter) and Tetsuya, despite knowing that he would never get even one eighth of the letters that he sent, still wrote him little updates on what was what and who he was keeping an eye on. It was silly of him to try to keep clinging to Shigehiro, especially after what he’d done to him, but he was Tetsuya’s only friend for so long that he really couldn’t help himself, even after Kagura had banned him from communicating with Shigehiro on a particularly bad night.

Tetsuya couldn’t help the wide smile that split his face when he opened the email and saw a picture of Shigehiro looking as jovial as always writing something crude on a pale, silver haired man who was fast asleep in permanent marker. Shigehiro had definitely grown, he was two years older that Tetsuya himself and had a narrow face still plump with the last vestiges of baby fat. His mess of short, straight brown hair looked thinner than usual and his left eye now had a very noticeable vertical line running through it, which made Tetsuya cringe, but he looked healthy. Good.

_‘I’m sorry for being such a horrible friend, but wifi’s really dumb up on mountain tops and the bastard doesn’t wanna leave the grounds for anything. He’s really stubborn_

_Anyway, no, you little pessimist, I didn’t get eaten by a Lightning Beast, but I did manage to steal an egg from a phoenix because I got hungry and the bastard_ never _gives me anything to eat, something about being ‘able to survive in any condition’ or something lousy like that. I swear he spouts vague bullshit like that just to piss me off, but I’ve adapted to his dumb habits._

 _I’m really sorry I can’t tell you exactly where I am or where we’ll end up (mainly because I don’t know myself, the_ bastard), _but it’s wolf country and we’re hiking west, so do with that what you will. Since we’ll be stepping on a few toes when we pass through, I’ll make sure to keep an eye on the princess and I’ll pass your message on to your old man for you because I’m just that great._

_It’s really stressful up here and I wish you were around because the silence is stifling, but you probably still have crap stamina and for all you’re really cool abilities, the bastard still would throw you halfway to Tokyo for trying to interfere (because I know you know where I am now, you smartass). I asked him about your little… uh.. problem(?) with your control and he said to find someone to beat you until you had no choice but to master it. Or go spend some days trying to find the Emerald Dog that’s sleeping in the woods. Mythical beasts are hard to hide from, I know personally now._

_I wanna tell you so much more about my adventures but the bastard’s gonna wake up and then we’ll be moving again, so this is all I can fit. Take care of yourself and no, dammit, I don’t and will never hate you for what you did so stop beating yourself up and keep working and go get napkins because I can smell the tears of your future self you big baby,_

_Shit, Bastard’s awake, wish me luck,  
Shige._

_P.S. Tell Kagu that I forgive her. She’s a crazy old bat, but her lessons are continuously saving my life, so she’s forgiven, or whatever. You know I’m bad at these things._

_P.P.S. Kaijou’s prince is missing and the current emperor has the mental capacity of a five-year-old. Don’t come east unless you have a really good reason, tell the old bat that too._

_P.P.P.S. I just remembered that it’s January and I have no clue when I’ll get to send this to you so happy birthday, or belated birthday, depending on the situation._

_Okay. Now I’m really done. Bye ‘Tsuya_ _._

Tetsuya tasted the salt of his tears before he registered that he was actually crying. He hadn’t heard from Shigehiro for almost a full year and he wasn’t mad or resentful. He was having fun and though he had gotten a great deal ruder, it was still Shigehiro.

Tetsuya wholly embraced the ridiculously warm, fuzzy feeling sitting in the center of his chest and if he went off to pick up the groceries with a smile on his face, well, it’s not like anyone noticed.

* * *

 

On Monday, Tetsuya went to the park with two of his great grandfather’s journals and a basket filled with meat and fruits.

He made his way to one of the small, snow kissed inclines and spread two blankets, one for himself and the other for the array of animals he’d be feeding during the day. The sunlight was soothing, almost cool on his neck and Tetsuya knew that it was perfect weather for what he was planning on accomplishing.

He pulled a large, round plate from his basket and set it down to the north of the blanket. He arranged half of the beef slabs in a concentric pattern in the middle of the plate and filled the spaces with sweet strawberries and persimmons. He sprinkled olive oil over the arrangement and said a short prayer before pulling out a second plate and filling it with birdseed, assorted fruits and nuts and two smaller pieces of pork.

When he was finished, he looked over to the forest’s edge that was no more than a couple meters north of his offering site and nodded to the small collection of herbivorous animals that had gathered at the scent of food. They clamoured around the plate, each gratefully eating their fill and though there were a few lingering sniffs, they left the other plat alone.

Tetsuya sat on his blanket and fetched a bottle filled with a very melted concoction of vanilla flavor liquid and settled down to read, excited to finally get started on learning more about the history of his family. Kagura often mentioned that the Kuroko weren’t a clan, they were assassins. They didn’t have traditions, they had rituals and most importantly, they didn’t have friends, just people not worth disposing of.

Tetsuya was a bit intimidated by his grandmother’s stalwart belief in all of this and the way that she had raised him was a wonderfully accurate reflection on it, but he grew used to her ways and simply tried his best to make her proud. It was the least he could do, he supposed.

* * *

 

Halfway during the day, Tetsuya felt more than saw a familiar lanky build topped with messy, ebony hair strolling towards the forest.

He didn’t have the time nor the patience to deal with strangers, especially not while he was trying to mentally coax a mythical beast to come out of its hiding, but the tattooed man was stubbornly ignoring all of the signs hammered into the lawn saying to keep out of the underbrush and was about to walk straight into the forest. Tetsuya contemplated leaving him to be devoured by the serpents that slithered around the border for exactly three seconds before he resigned himself to his annoying complex and threw an apple with surprising accuracy and strength at the man’s head.

Not surprisingly, Imayoshi caught the fruit and bit into it almost absent-mindedly. He turned to face Tetsuya and broke out into a wide smirk that made Tetsuya really wish he hadn’t just saved his life. Then he waved far too energetically for someone that was _at least_ thirty-five (and that was being generous, Tetsuya had looked up the tattoos and those particular ones were positively archaic) and bounded towards him, all smirks and squinty eyes.

Tetsuya stuffed his great grandfather’s journals back into his basket and pulled out a bag of beef jerky, taking a bite out of a stick and offering one to Imayoshi as he plopped heavily onto the blanket, scaring away the skittish deer that had finally shown up and managing to irritate Tetsuya even more.

“I really didn’t expect to see you here, Kuroko-chan! Do you remember who I am?”

Tetsuya kinda wished that Imayoshi choked on his stick of beef jerky but inclined his head politely, “I do Imayoshi-san. I was simply enjoying the weather.”

Imayoshi snorted in the annoying way adults did when they realized that, yes, Tetsuya was that ridiculously formal all the time. “I was chasing fiction,” he chuckled freely.

Tetsuya took another bite of his beef jerky and hummed, “I thought adults didn’t believe in things such as the Emerald Dog.”

Imayoshi smiled easily, stretching his hand for another stick of beef jerky and shrugging, “Some adults are strange.”

Tetsuya nearly sniggered at that, didn’t he know just how true that was. He mentally sighed though, he didn’t like the guy but he did have a responsibility to make sure a tourist didn’t die on Shuutoku soil, especially not now when the population was searching for any reason to throw blame at the metas and their ‘witchcraft’. “It’s illegal to cross into the forests Imayoshi-san. More so since you don’t know what exactly you’re looking for.”

Tetsuya saw Imayoshi’s smirk widen and curl disturbingly at the ends and he blantantly ignored the cold chill that ran down his spine as the man stretched for his third stick of jerky, “Oh? I hadn’t realized.”

“That’s why there are signs everywhere, Imayoshi-san. I trust that you can read in our language.”

Imayoshi blinked (even though his eyes weren’t even open) and barked a harsh laugh, “I didn’t realize you were the forest patrol, Kuroko-chan.” He stood up and stretched even though he hadn’t been sitting on the blanket for long, “Alright, I’ll leave. See you around kid.”

And then he was gone. He didn’t walk off, or ran or whatever, he simply stood up and disappeared. Tetsuya had never seen anyone pull off instant teleportation like that before and it made him believe even more firmly that Imayoshi was neither tourist nor telepath. Tetsuya wasn’t sure whether he was worth all the warnings that were beginning to pop into his mind whenever he thought of ‘Imayoshi Shoichi’, but he would look into it all the same.

Tetsuya reached for another piece of beef jerky and nearly cursed.

Imayoshi had taken the pack and left.

* * *

 

It would be six in the evening when the setting sun had turned the park’s lawn into a weird shade of orange-green that Tetsuya’s offerings were answered.

Tetsuya was packing up having learned quite a bit from his great grandfather’s journals when there was suddenly a small, friendly bark accompanied with a deep voice resonating in his head saying, _More._

Tetsuya’s right hand was sparking to life before he even turned around and the mocking laughter that greeted his caution made him pause.

Sitting very comfortably on the blanket was a small, adorable dog with intelligent blue eyes and six tails.

The dog stared firmly at Tetsuya before nodding and motioning to the empty plate with his muzzle. Tetsuya immediately re-opened his basket and placed the remainder of the meat slabs on the plate for the stray to guzzle down and sat back down to wait for the dog to finish eating.

When the dog was done he stood on his small paws and turned to face the sky, tails swishing smoothly behind it and _howled_. It was a terrible sound that threatened to burst Tetsuya’s ears and do physical damage to his body with its frequency. It was a sound that vibrated the earth to its core and ripped the sky asunder with a beam of emerald light. The trees whipped in a frenzy and Tetsuya was struggling to cope with the assault on his senses when the blinding emerald light simply engulfed his sight and body.

Tetsuya could feel nothing.

There was nothing to see or hear, just a sea of greens dancing idly around him, washing his body with a feeling of emptiness so strong that he couldn’t help but be certain that he had just experienced death.

_Tetsuya Kuroko, are you not?_

He couldn’t talk, his body was simultaneously light and heavy and his tongue was no exception but the disembodied voice needed no answer.

_I have been called by many men, great and humble, but never in all my centuries of life have I ever been called to action by a mere pup._

Tetsuya couldn’t even muster the energy to smile at the compliment, but he was finally able to will his body to move and he eloquently responded with a shrug. There was still nothing but emerald light washed in shades of chartreuse and juniper but he could feel its presence surrounding him like an ocean.

The voice hummed appraisingly and the small dog from before stepped out of the curtain of colour, eyes now a startling shade of deep jade, an oriental staff held firmly in its mouth.

_I am known as Terrarum. You have caught my interest, pup_

**Author's Note:**

> We got to establish a little bit about Tetsuya in this one. He doesn’t have misdirection or a weak presence, it’s straight up invisibility and it even affects those around him, like a Vanishing Drive on steroids. I also gave him mind reading powers because Tetsu is a blunt little shit and I really can’t wait to see him embarrass the GoM and Seirin. 
> 
> All the members of the GoM will have different powers, even the Uncrowned Kings and certain other characters will have powers. This is a Superpower AU after all, but I’ll be focusing on the GoM and Seirin because I love them and AkaKuro is a weakness of mine. Anyway, in the next chapter, Kuroko meets a very special carrot. So… yeah~!


End file.
